


Butterlegs, snickelways and pocket watches

by Captain_Mercurian



Series: So what do I do with this? [2]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Credence also doesn't know what a snickelway is, Credence has nightmares, Credence thinks he's a thief but doesn't care, It's a British (North-English) term for alleyway, M/M, Newt is an adorable dork, Part 2 of "A bundle of brown and blue", Snickelway is just something Newt would say cause it sounds so goddamn cute, The Niffler is still out and about, You probably don't know either
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2016-11-27
Packaged: 2018-09-02 14:34:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8671270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_Mercurian/pseuds/Captain_Mercurian
Summary: “I know you,” the stranger suddenly said and snapped Credence out of his trance. “You're the boy from the snickelway, right?”He didn't know what a 'snickelway' was and he found that he didn't care since his mind had already zeroed in on the fact that he remembered him.





	

Credence's dreams were usually nightmares.

 

He would dream of darkness. Horrifying, suffocating darkness that would tear open his ribcage from the inside and drown him in it's depths. Dead faces would rise from the ashes surrounding him, pale and blue, skin littered with strange marks and their eyes – their eyes would stare at him and all at once they would scream: “WITCHER!”

Then he would be consumed by flames as his clothes caught fire and he would hear his mother's voice echoing through the dark.

 

_Burn him._

 

_Burn the witcher!_

 

That's when he would wake up.

 

 

However, this night something was different.

 

It started how it usually would, him clutching his chest as he felt something trying to escape the cage that was Credence's body. He screamed as his ribs cracked, tearing open the pale, fragile skin protecting them and the darkness leapt out of him, engulfing him until everything around him was nothing but endless black.

Barely able to breath, he was in so much pain that his eyes filled up with tears.

 

Then – A voice.

 

It was different from the voices that usually haunted him in these dreams, different from his mother's. He tried to blink away the tears as he looked for it's source, even daring to take a step further into the darkness.

Something rustled at his feet and he saw a paper trapped underneath his shoe, however, it wasn't just any paper. It was one of mother's leaflets.

His head shot up as he heard the voice again and, _finally_ , he saw him.

 

A man stood far away from him in the midst of all this nothingness, bright and colorful. He recognized the blue coat and he could feel his heart make a leap as he finally understood what the voice was trying to tell him: “Follow me.”

It wasn't an order. It was a request.

 

Just like that he began to walk, his legs shaking, fearing that he might fall into this ocean of ashes and drown, but the man kept calling him with that gentle voice.

 

He didn't reach him before mother's bell woke him up.

 

 

 

After breakfast, Credence couldn't grab the stack of leaflets any faster. Chastity gave him a weird look but he ignored it and left the house with more energy than he had ever felt in his entire life. Maybe, it was naive to hope that he would see the stranger with the warm eyes again. New York was a big town and given that he had never seen the man before, he probably wasn't from around.

Still, this feeling of hope thrummed in his veins and he couldn't help but let his gaze sweep over every face he crossed paths with.

Forgotten were the leaflets he was supposed to spread, he wasn't looking for people that might have been interested in them. It was brown and blue he was searching for.

 

 

 

Credence didn't find the man before he had to return home.

 

The disappointment felt like a knife stabbing him in the gut and he threw some leaflets into the next garbage can as he went home, all energy drained away. He had been stupid to think that he could find him. This was New York, after all, and he didn't even know his name.

And even if he had found him – What then?

The stranger had probably forgotten him by now, anyway.

 

Turning the corner with his gaze directed at his shoes, he walked straight into-

 

Into a blue coat.

 

Flinching away, his heart skipped a beat and when he dared to look up, there he was.

The man looked at him with the same surprise written on his face as the last time and the proximity alone made Credence's body shut off completely. The papers slipped from his fingers and he did nothing but stand and stare as he was blinded by the colors and the intensity of the stranger's gaze.

The leaflets were scattered on the ground – again – and he found that he didn't care a bit.

 

“Kappa's breath,” the man said, eyes still wide open, and turned to face Credence completely. “I'm terribly sorry, I shouldn't have been standing around here-”

If he was quite honest, he didn't hear a word of what he was saying. He simply looked at him as if he had never seen another human being before and let that warm voice wash over him. His legs might as well have been a pile of butter for all they were worth since they were trembling so hard, Credence could barely stand.

The man rambled on and quickly bent over to shuffle together the leaflets and it felt very much like a Déjà-Vu when there was a messy pile of papers gently laid into his motionless hands.

 

“I know you,” the stranger suddenly said and snapped Credence out of his trance. “You're the boy from the snickelway, right?”

He didn't know what a 'snickelway' was and he found that he didn't care since his mind had already zeroed in on the fact that  _he remembered him_ .

Averting his gaze, the stranger suddenly reached into the inside of his coat, mumbling something incomprehensible and then there were about a dozen of pocket watches dangling between them.

“This may sound a little strange,” he said, staring at nowhere in particular with an uncomfortable expression written all over his face. “but I am not quite sure which is yours, so...”

 

Credence didn't ask where the man had gotten all of these pocket watches and why he didn't know which of them were his own. Maybe, none of them were. Maybe, he was a thief who had trained his cat to help him steal stuff – But why would he return Credence's pocket watch then?  
Again, he decided that he didn't care when he forced himself to look for his watch. He found it immediately as it was the plainest of them, with a thick scratch adorning it. The stranger had replaced the silver chain, that was still attached to Credence's vest, with a thick thread. Shyly, he pressed the leaflets against his chest to touch it with his finger and froze as he looked up and caught the other's gaze through all the glittery chains.

 

Quickly, their eye contact was broken and he watched long, calloused fingers disentangling the thread from the chains before they held the pocket watch out to him. With a slight bow of his head, he took it from him, trying not to stare.

“Sorry again,” the man said as he tucked the remaining watches back into his blue coat. “I hope, I didn't cause you any-”

 

“Credence.”

 

There was moment of silence as the stranger slowly lifted his gaze to meet his and he couldn't help but feel heat crawling into his cheeks.

He hadn't meant to tell him his name. Actually, he hadn't meant to say anything at all. It was best to remain silent, unseen and unremembered. But there was something about this man with the tousled reddish-brown hair and colorful clothes that made him want to be heard, seen and remembered.

Credence wanted the stranger to know his name. And he wanted to know his but he didn't dare ask.

 

“I- I beg your pardon?” he asked, blinking in confusion, eyes flickering between Credence and something behind him. Credence's cheeks felt even hotter and he pressed his lips into a thin line, scolding himself for bothering the man with his stupidity. Something shifted in the face of the other and then he smiled at him with so much kindness that he felt the urge to cry. “Is that your name? Credence?”  
  


He nodded.

 

The smile turned even softer and Credence marveled at the small wrinkles beneath those blue, intense eyes. It was so beautiful that he almost forgot about his fear and he wanted to ask “What's your name?” like any other normal person would have done by now but the moment was shattered.

 

Literally.

 

He flinched and turned towards the noise to find the shop window of a jewelry store laying shattered on the street as the jeweler ran after a familiar black, fluffy ball, with a metal bat in hand and shouting furiously.

 

“I- I am sorry, I have to-,” the man, whose name remained a mystery for the time being, stuttered with a hint of panic as he ran past him, almost tripping over his own feet in order to catch up with the fleeing pair.

 

Credence stared after him, heart still racing inside his chest and his buttery legs rendered useless.

 

 

 

He got home late but when he showed mother his pocket watch, she settled for a smack on the back of his head.

 

Credence decided that this had been the best day of his life, yet.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Here is part two of the series which I still don't have a name for - Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it because Newdence/Crewt/Cramander or whatever this ship's name is, is just plain beautiful.


End file.
